ABSTRACT
A guide for modern readers Only for the past 100 years have historians been considered to be members of a profession; since the time of Herodotus they were sages, diplomats, priests, teachers, prophets, politicians, and poets. Historical writing too has played different roles: in the Renaissance it was a branch of rhetoric, in Homer's time poetry, and in 12th-century Scandinavia spellbinding saga. Now a first-of-its-kind Encyclopedia sorts out for contemporary readers the many ways to write history and spotlights its famed as well as forgotten major figures. Surveys traditional approaches-and their challengers Today more than ever the discipline is in a state of flux, as the traditional forms of Western history-writing are challenged by subdisciplines and new approaches, such as women's history, the history of sexuality, psychohistory, and multiculturalism. This unique Encyclopedia surveys all forms of historical writing throughout the world, from earliest times to the present, covering historical traditions of nations and analyzing theoretical topics from chronicles to feminist interpretations, modern schools from progressives to the Annales, as well as examining the latest developments in cultural history, cliometrics, postmodernism, and other contemporary topics. Spotlights neglected writers from many cultures The Encyclopedia discusses individual historians from antiquity to the present day, from the greatest names in western historical writing past and present to many historians previously excluded from general accounts, such as women and writers from nonwestern cultures. In these pages you will meet Lord Acton, Henry Adams, Ban Zhao, the Venerable Bede, Edmund Burke, Thomas Carlyle, Ch'oe Namson, Confucius, W.E.B. Du Bois, Elizabeth Eisenstein, Tokuzo Fukuda, Ibn Ishaq, Catherine Macaulay, Theodor Mommsen, Leopold von Ranke, Sigebert of Gembloux, Zosimus, and many others. The biographical entries are enhanced and supplemented by thoroughly cross-referenced topical surveys. Each entry is followed by a list of references for further study and a list of works by the biographical subject. Special Features Global coverage encompasses all major ethnic and national groups and theoretical topics; Surveys many writers previously neglected, including women; Bibliographies cite references on and by the writer examined; Extensively cross-referenced by subject and fully indexed Index. Bibliography.
